Joseph Paul Vorst (b. 1897, Essen, DE; d. 1947, Overland, MI) was a German-American painter, muralist, and printmaker associated with American Regionalism. He studied at the Folkwang Schule in Hagen and the National Academy of Berlin under Max Liebermann and Max Slevogt before immigrating to the United States in 1930, where he became associated with the Ste. Genevieve Art Colony in Missouri. During the 1930s and 1940s, Vorst completed numerous public commissions through New Deal art programs. His work was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; and Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, among other institutions. Vorst’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO.